The Perfect Escape
by Mr. Skiperdoo
Summary: Fox is spending the week at a beautiful resort on Zoness with his friend. He doesn't remember how he got there, but he knows that everything's perfect, a little too perfect.
1. Now for Something Completely Different

Author's Notes: **BEGONE haunting story; I throw you into the world of the internets! Cast forever into a grand and never fading ocean of reading you go! Nary any longer shall thee plague my mind with thine uncommitted words which have yet to be completed, I set you FREE! To reign as my baron and representative! Go now grand story and show these souls your magnificence, and use your will as a catalyst to complete mine as your own.**

Heh, I actually typed that. Anyways, hope you like my story; you might as well read the whole thing.

_Takeoffs are optional, landings are mandatory_

_Every pilot who ever lived_

~  
And Now for Something Completely Different  
~

It was a disaster from the start.

Not only had they gone on loose Intel, unsafe assumptions, and not to mention an utter lack of preparation, but the whole operation was designed as if it were meant to fail, and now they were paying the price.

"Slippy, slow down, get to your corner speed or you'll never turn enough on him!" Fox yelled through his onboard communications radio. "Falco, don't pull up so fast, if they isolate you you're done for!"

Fox twisted his Arwing so that he faced the horizon upside-down. The next victim moved in and out of his targeting area, it was almost certainly a pilot who had been hastily trained, and therefore wasn't prepared for an aerial maneuver that would've required him to be accustomed to his own aircraft. Fox did as he did many times before, tracking the targets direction before quickly charging his cannon and laying waste to the vessel. He coasted his Arwing through the flashed debris, briefly covering his eyes at the bright light. After he passed through, he took a long view around the window to see if anyone else was trailing him.

"Fox, where are you?" Came a voice from the radio.

"I'm fine Krystal… had to descend to eliminate a strayer. How's Big Boy holding up?"

"We're clear up here, thanks, Big Boy's taken minimal damage and-"

"Hey!"

"Not you Slippy, Big Boy… remember? That's the call sign…" Fox reminded the toad.

"Oh yeah… that's who we're escorting, right?"

"Slippy!" The team erupted.

"Oops…"

"Damn it, you can't keep that big mouth shut can you? It's always help me this, save me that, they're shooting me here, Amanda's hot, blah blah blah blah…" Falco mocked.

"Enough Falco…" Fox urged in a strong tone. He switched the systems to auto level so he could focus on communicating with his team. "Slippy, you look pretty damaged, go up and enter tight formation with Big Boy, Krystal, you come down here and take his position."

"Bu… Fox…" Slippy whined.

"Go up… they'll be using interceptors on us soon, you won't be able to compete with the fast moving ships they're bound to send in, not while they're fresh anyway. They'll most likely send their heavy gunboats up top, I need you to find their weaknesses and exploit them, you got that?"

"Yes Fox…" With that, Slippy ship pulled up to meet with the rest of the convoy, while Krystal descended into the leftmost position on the triangular formation near Fox's wing.

"This feels better," Falco muttered. "Guess he couldn't take the heat."

"Shut up, because you're next… when the next wave arrives I want you pull hard to the side before they're in weapons range. That way we'll separate the patient from the impatient, after that, I'll turn into a corkscrew to shake the others off. Krystal, once Falco pulls off, you break into vector mode, you'll be at an advantage to anyone who tries to overshoot you, so eliminating nearby threats should be easy. Everyone got it?"

"Understood." Krystal replied.

"Wilco…" Falco relayed.

Now that Fox had organized his team's tactics, he called in with the main ship. "Great Fox this is Little Fox, we've held through this attack, and we're preparing for the next, any idea on when backup's arriving? Over."

"Backup will be here in twenty minutes Little Fox, we'll just have to escort Big Boy to his position until then… Over…"

"Full copy Great Fox… any idea how many we're going up aga-" Just before he could finish the question, it was answered by a high priority message coming from Big Boy.

"Star Fox, this is Big Boy, we're detecting an unnaturally high concentration of Venomian fighters up ahead, at our one o' clock low. Looks like they're headed straight for us, ETA four minutes, over."

"I hear you Big Boy, we'll continue with our pre-determined route, out." Fox took a deep breath before returning to his team. "Alright everyone… it's gonna get a little more exciting in a few. Stick to the plan, don't do anything stupid, and stay safe. Remember, if you're going down and need to land, we're over water so you'll have to slide into it, you got that Krystal?"

"Yes, Fox."

"Hey, I got that too, thanks for asking…"

"I was talking to both of you. Since you responded though…"

"I'm just saying you're so worried about her safety that you can barely focus on the mission."

"I'm worried about all of our safety… regardless; you can't separate our wellbeing from the mission."

"The mission… Why are we even here? This was obviously a bad idea. Who are we fighting? What's this whole thing about? Are we even getting paid for this?"

"We'll talk about it once we're out of this, Falco. For now, focus on the situation at hand."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's supposed to mean that you- oh, damn it, you guys have that beeping too?" Fox checked his cockpit's error section to see the source of the problem.

"Beeping?" Falco examined his own systems panel. "Clear here. Sure no one's targeting you?"

"No, I see it." Fox found the blinking light on the engine panel. "It has something to do with my left engine…"

"Fox!" Krystal exclaimed

Fox swiveled his head to his left to see Krystal's Arwing. He gasped in shock when he saw a thin plume of black smoke slip away from the upper fin of his own left engine. "I see it…"

"What's wro- oh, man…" Falco realized the damage to the other ship. "What happened?"

"Must have caught a piece of shrapnel when I passed through that last bandit down there… must be showing now because of the changing atmospheric condition."

"That's a pretty big dent, are you sure you didn't clip him before you passed through the debris?"

Krystal tried to urge the leader to take a more defensive position. "Fox, should we get Slippy down here and-"

"No, I'll be fine; I just need to adjust the pressure so I'm balanced." Fox's Arwing shook and banked. He adjusted the pitch and set everything so that it would be stable, using the automatic systems wouldn't work, since they would only compensate for the engines if they were working in good condition, so he had to trim everything manually.

"Slight change of plans. Falco, you turn right instead and I'll go left, that way it'll be easier on me. Krystal, you don't change except for the fact that I'll be going a little bit slower now so you'll have to break a moment earlier to avoid crossing…they'll be coming up on us soon. Everyone ready?"

"Ready…"

"There they are… right in front of us."

"I see 'em."

"Stay in position, hold, hold…" The small dots in the distance slowly grew larger. A few of them broke off from the formation and headed to a higher altitude to approach Big Boy and the rest of the convoy. "On my signal…" Fox advised. His heart thumped faster and faster as if it were a radar signaling the approach of the oncoming enemy, he had been in this same position countless times before, but now, something felt wrong, something felt different.

"Look at them all… there's gotta be at least… a lot."

"It'll be easier to count them when they're finished."

They came closer until they were well within range. Fox hesitated for a small period but committed once they started to pick targets and change course.

"Now!" Falco's Arwing veered with a sharp turn to the right. Nearly half of the enemy fighters detached to follow him, it was a riskier decision, but it would be balanced by the support of the other moves soon to follow. Fox flew his Arwing to the left in corkscrewed motion; the movement was perhaps improved by the partially disabled engine, ironically adding to the intimidation.

Now that they had been set up, the real fighting began. There were a few who tried shooting at Fox, but their shots passed far behind him due to his ever changing directions. After they strained themselves to pull after him, they became easy targets for Krystal, who had engaged an extended maneuverability setting in order to catch them in her net of weaponry. She took out three in that first sweep, and then she disengaged from vector thrust mode so that she wouldn't become an easy target for those doing the same thing.

"Falco, I'm comin' around to your place."

"Got ya… hey, you don't mind if I bring a few friends?"

Completing his wide bank, Falco's ship convened to the point where he was facing his friend head-on. Fox straightened out his direction, and prepared to take on the remnant following Falco. There were seven following him before Fox passed, but after a couple of high powered blasts from the main cannon, only two remained.

"All, swarm!" The Star Fox team burst into a chaotic mixture of twists and turns and anything in between. Fox felt his Arwing get hit multiple times, but his barrier shields took care of everything serious.

"I've picked a few more of them up." Falco struggled to shake off the enemies behind him.

"Do a barrel roll!" Krystal urged him.

Falco flipped around, causing his pursuers to almost collide with each other, but they stabilized once they figured out the maneuver.

"No, not an aileron roll, a barrel roll!"

"Doesn't matter, that's what the old man calls it!"

"Falco, drive them up on a short ceiling and use vector thrusts to turn below them!" Fox commanded.

Falco struggled to speak while shaking his 'friends' off his tail. "Say again?"

"Lead them with the Cobra since they're above you, I can't reach your speed to take them out."

"Ah, they'll never see it coming…" Falco's Arwing pulled straight up, yet even at that pitch his ship remained at the same altitude. Seeing this sudden change, the chasing fighters attempted to mimic the movement but instead, they got a different result and zoomed right past him. As Falco's Arwing pointed vertically, they ships which were just behind him bolted straight into view. They became easy targets, they became his prey, and he had no trouble in eliminating them after that.

"Good job Falco!" Krystal exclaimed.

"Hey, it actually worked… you see that Fox?"

"Sorry, too busy splashing my own chasers into the sea." Fox took another glance at his ever worsening engine. Even though they were greatly outnumbered, they still managed to hold them off.

"Yeah, everyone just seems to chase after me funny, huh?"

"Alright, enough small talk, have we taken them all out?"

"Yeah, I think we scared one off though… coward. How's your engine holding up, Fox?"

"Not good, but at least I'm stable. I have a feeling we won't be seeing Slippy for days because he'll be trying to fix it. Hey Falco, could you shoot my right engine so it's balanced?" Fox joked. "But seriously… I need to call in the rest of the convoy to see how they're doing." He then switched the transmission frequency.

"So uh… Krysty…" Falco began.

"Yes?"

"How about when we get back… movie night!"

"Um… maybe?"

"I was thinking of Deathgivers Ultimatum Rising, I checked out the trailer yesterday and it looks totally legit, what do you say?"

"Well, actually, I had my eye on the new Saurian documentary that came out last week…"

"Eww, _Tales of the Thorntails_? No way! Those things are boring, plus, they're like three hours long."

"Fine, I'm sure Fox will watch it with me…" Krystal remarked defiantly.

"Watch what? Deathgivers Ultimatum?" Fox chimed in, sounding somewhat excited.

"Deathgivers Ultimatum _Rising_." Falco corrected.

"Oh… **the sequel**… Krystal, you're into those things? I never-"

"No it's just that… we were talking about movies and… oh forget it."

"Well… ok. Big Boy said they'll be landing at station S10, some of their ships took too much damage and they won't be able to go the whole way."

"They weren't prepared for a Venomian attack; they need at least twice the number of escorts if they're going through this airspace." Falco observed. "If you asked me, this whole thing was terribly planned."

"They always think they're fine when they have us, as if we're supposed to take them all on ourselves." Krystal noted.

"Isn't that how it usually goes? Hey look! It's the Star Fox team! Backup? Na we don't need that."

"Falco, stay aware… actually, how about you go up and meet with Slippy… I'm sure he's bored having no one to talk to."

Falco thought about staying, but reluctantly pulled up. "Fine…" Just as he reached a 45 degree angle pointing upwards, Fox saw a strange flash from a nearby thin layer of clouds below them. His eyes dilated.

"Falco!" Fox yelled. The bird's Arwing spun around after being hit with the extremely powerful blast.

"Ah! Damn it!" Falco's Arwing swerved out control.

"Where is he?!"

"Behind me you idiot!"

From below the sheet of white came a great, red, beast of a fighter. Its strong color was reminiscent of blood, and its engine's roar was that of a terrible monster closing in for the kill. On the side of the crimson death machine was a long line of tally marks, and a smiling tiger who was eager to add another to the side of his vessel.

"Not today you don't…" Fox pulled into a trailing position behind the hyper maneuverable aircraft, which was made especially difficult considering his Arwing's newfound disability.

"Fox!"

"All units, this is Big Boy, danger, I repeat danger! Enemies all around us! We need backup!"

"I'll help you Fox!" Krystal pleaded, lowering her Arwing to meet Fox's.

"No! Go up and protect the convoy, I'll deal with him!"

"Fox…"

"GO! NOW!" Fox didn't care to glance over, he knew she understood that message, and he was too focused on tracking his enemy. "Falco, report status! Falco!"

"Grh… It's on fire, can't control it!"

"Don't fight it; you'll make it worse… "

Fox had little time to observe his teammate get out of his spin and continue to descend. The fighter which had first shot him disengaged and was now flying a straight and level path. Fox smirked as he realized his enemy had made a terrible mistake. He adjusted the Arwing's path until the ship lay directly in front of him. "Too easy…"

Just before he blew the ship out of the sky, it jolted upwards and then slowed to the point where Fox was unable to react. "What the…" Fox barely regained his bearings before he saw streaks of enemy fire fly right by his ship.

It was now a completely isolated one on one battle, as the two ships descended further until they slipped below the large level of clouds. They were two masters at their profession, throwing this maneuver and that tactic and hoping something would work. He tried curves, 'barrel rolls' splits; however, in his damaged condition, Fox generally fell on the losing end of each individual motion, but his expertise and sheer will boosted him away from certain death whenever it came calling in the form of green, fiery death.

After a while, Fox noticed that they were descending fast, too fast. In fact, if he didn't start pulling up now, he would hit the "WATER!" Fox exclaimed. There was of course, one possibility he had forgotten. By employing such a tactic he would eliminate any possibilities of being swept away from below. There was no way he could out maneuver his enemy, maybe he could out smart him.

He pulled up as hard as he could, but at the speed he was going, it was stressful for his Arwing. The enemy peppered his shots around him, as if he were playing with him. Fox waited until he was right above the crashing waves, his pursuer still followed, as he was jumped like an insect from one direction to another.

'_Let me see how you like this.'_ Fox charged his cannon and shot it straight into the crest of a nearby wave. He flew through the field of mist which ensued, dragging streams of vapor with him as he passed. He quickly engaged his airbrake in hopes that his enemy would not be able to see him and instead fly right over him. Of course he was right… not about his enemy flying over him but about not seeing him, and he was definitely wrong to not assume the pilot would collide with his Arwing, clipping off a large portion of his wing and taking off a nice chunk of Fox's right side engine.

Fox's Arwing rumbled at the sudden force. He looked outside of his canopy to see the hyper maneuverable craft stutter back into shape. Without it's wing however, if fell victim to the once successful attempts of rolling away to get into a better position, the interloper spun to the left and flipped over, crashing into the waves below, canopy first.

Now that that was taken care of, Fox pushed away from the downed vehicle.

"Falco's down! Repeat, Falco's splashed!"

"Fox here! Strong copy!" Fox looked into the distance; he could see his buddy's Arwing touch the waters.

"Fox! What's going on down there!? We're taking a beating!"

"Peppy! Had a little scuffle with a pro, but he's down. I don't know if I can make it…" Fox frantically scanned both sides of his ship, which looked in critical condition. "I think I'll have to splash!"

"You can't! Rescue teams won't be here for another half an hour!"

"I don't think I have a choice! Engines 2 and 3 are critical, I can't keep going!" Fox struggled to maintain lift. "I… can't…" He pulled up as hard as he could, but the ship wouldn't move. "ARRRGHHH!"

"Fox!"

"I'm trying!"

"Eject, eject eject!"

Fox gave one more great yell; he could almost feel the waving pushing against his Arwing. A cold flash burst before the strange sensation of slipping away into something soft intertwined with the loud intensity of the disintegrating fighter.

~X~X~X~X~X~

Fox rolled over as he groaned in his dazed state of half-sleep. He felt the closing feeling of getting out of bed creep upon him, but for some reason, he wanted to stay. It noticed that his bed was soft, _really _soft; it felt so good against his fur. Once his eyes slowly slid open, he noticed that something was wrong about it. His eyes exploded out of the bed and fell onto the floor, which surprisingly felt immensely soft as well…

"Wha…" He desperately searched his surroundings. "Where…" He stood up, his muzzle hung open as he scanned the open hotel room. "When did… what happened?" He held his forehead. "Hello? Anyone here?"

No answer.

Fox stumbled to the center of the large hotel room. It looked like any other he'd resided in when the Great Fox needed serious maintenance, but he'd always go to low-rate, dirt cheap motels, nothing like this. It had a wide aquarium built into the wall, where colorful fish swam around an artificial reef made from decommissioned dreadnought parts. A large hyper-definition T.V resided on the wall, its expensive make and model was something that only those with credits overflowing from their accounts could practically afford.

A vertical streak of brightness shone between the slit of two long curtains. It was a great light, and a natural one, not like that which was generally found on spacecraft. He moved closer to the light, its streams flowed through the opening crevasse, inviting him to spread them and open a new world. When the curtains were separated, Fox felt a large weight release from his stomach.

Behind the curtains lay not merely a window, but a large glass door, and behind that an entire semi-circular balcony, overlooking the long, lush, and stunning view of a strikingly beautiful island landscape; with trees so green they radiated life, and a beach so sandy he could almost feel the grains sift through his paws.

The very air was so clear it breathed into him, something which he had not experienced in a long time. On both sides of him were extending walls which made up the rest of the square building, there were other balconies, but nobody was on them. Instead, Fox looked below him to see a large number of Lylatians weaving by each other, and engaging in numerous sorts of activities. It was obviously a cheerful place,

But the question remained: Where was he? How did he get here, and when? All he remembered was him fighting someone… and he was flying, but what happened? Where was everyone else? Was he alone? And was he paying for all this?

A knock came from the room's door.

"Hello?" Fox got his hopes up that perhaps the knock came from one of his teammates. His ears fell as a sign of disappointment when he looked through the small looking hole in door and saw only the sight of an attractive husky woman standing behind it in professional dress. "Yes?" Fox asked as he let the door open slightly.

"Mr. McCloud, you're awake."

"Uh… yeah."

"Did you get a good sleep?"

"Well… I don't know."

"You don't know? Never heard that answer before…" The woman smiled. "I can understand that you would feel strange, especially after what happened last night."

"What? What happened last night?!" Fox demanded.

"Oh, you came in to the resort so tired last night that your friends had to hold you up to keep you from falling over!"

"I… I don't remember that. I don't really remember anything. Last night, how I got here…"

"Well, that's a common for someone who deals with high-stress situations… It occurs when there's so much on your mind that you let go of everything altogether."

"Where am I exactly?" Fox wondered. "And eh… I don't know how to say this right but, who are you?"

The woman gave another giggly smile, and then gestured in a pseudo-curtsey to introduce her to the vulpine. "I'm Khaya Vernuun, think of me as you guide, director, and activities advisor for the week. Here at the newly redesigned Partasti resort on Zoness, we have a number of-"

"Zoness…" Fox repeated. "I don't remember it being so clean, last time I was here, Andross had messed the whole place pretty bad."

"We've had massive cleanup efforts in the recent years. Some places will take decades to return to their former state, but fortunately, this part of the planet has fared better than most, and our seas are still being cleaned up thanks to a system-wide effort."

"Hmm… I always wanted to see this place as it used to be… Without all the pollution."

"That is why you're here, isn't it?" Khaya asked.

"Well… I guess it is." Fox rubbed his neck. It felt sore for some reason; in fact, it reminded him of the soreness he got after engaging in heavy combat.

"If you'd like Mr. McCloud, we could start the day off by visiting our system renowned masseuses."

"That sounds great, but… I'd like to get oriented with my team first if you don't mind…"

"Oh well, I'm sorry but that technically won't be possible."

"Why not?"

"Well, General Pepper said he would pay for just two of you… the rest of your team dropped you two off here for the week."

"That's terribly uncharacteristic of The General…. Paying for something I mean. So, who stayed behind with me?"

"I believe it's the blue one."

"Which blue one?"

"He's…"

"Oh…" Fox sighed. Why couldn't it be Krystal? "I get it… Falco would kill me if I didn't allow him to come with me."

"He's at the spa area right now, if you'd like to meet him there…"

"Yeah, I'll do that. Just give me a minute." Fox retreated back into the room. He opened up a nearby closet, where he found his travelling pack resting against a back wall. Upon opening it, he was surprised to find his clothing was folded neatly and separately, which was strange since he never packed like that. Maybe Krystal had done it for him; maybe she was depressed that Fox didn't bring her to one of the most beautiful resorts in existence for the entire week and took out her anger by perfectly arranging all his stuff while he wasn't looking, just maybe…

Once ready, Fox returned to the door, where Khaya was waiting. "By the way, you said General Pepper's paying for this?" He questioned.

"Well, for most of the basic accommodations, yes; however, you can still get a military discount for any optional purchases while you're here."

"Heh, well I'm _exactly_ Cornerian military…"

"Regulations allow us to give discounts to certain private contractors; I think someone of your service deserves at least that."

Fox said nothing after that. He remembered Falco's rule #551: never say no to a discount.

"So, shall we go enjoy Partasti?"

"Yeah, let's go."

~X~X~X~X~X~

Author's Notes: **Please review if you like it! If you don't… still review it so you will or something. If you kind of think 'meh whatever', I guess you don't have to really say anything, just send a cryptic message to me in binary to give me a hard time. If you're excited about this story, and want to follow it, you know what that alert thing down there means, if you don't, press it anyway and find out. **


	2. Break-Fast the Invincible

Break-Fast the Invincible

"Hey! There you are! Was wondering when you'd come down." Falco announced from across the open alcove which was placed near a long collection of windows with a superb view of the island. "Lie down right here, it's totally legit."

Fox headed towards his friend, following his recommendation, he lied face down on the table next to Falco's after taking his shirt off.

"Hey Fox, these guys fixed my neck up real nice… you know that sore feeling you get sometimes after those really tough days?"

"Yeah, in fact, I have that same feeling right now." Fox grazed the back of his neck with his left paw.

"You do? Well in that case you'll be fine. They know how to soothe one's tension like a… help me think of an analogy here…"

"Like a vacation?" Fox introduced.

"Kinda weak, but I guess it fits." Falco admitted.

After a while, Fox's massage finally began. It was almost uncanny how personal and individualized it felt, like if it were planned out specifically for him. The constant motions loosened up his neck, and comforted him nearly to the point where he just wanted to fall asleep. It was a very calming experience for Fox, even though Falco was right next to him making strange and somewhat disturbing sounds whenever his masseuse hit the perfect spot.

Later, they switched over to some sort of chopping motion. Fox's leg twitched as he felt the stress and the worry slide off his body like a layer of mud slipping off of Slippy's Arwing.

_Slippy… _that reminded Fox, he had almost forgotten how unnatural everything felt with the rest of his team gone. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how little he remembered. How did he get there, and when? There was so much missing information, and so few answers. Twenty minutes passed between thoughts of his absent crew, most pertaining to their whereabouts. After all the warm kneading on his back, Fox and Falco found a nice place to sit down and enjoy the view.

"Hey… Falco?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't help but have the strangest feeling… do you remember coming here?"

Falco hesitated in answering. "Well, I do recall… I mean I kind of remember something but… no… that's not right… no wait, we were there, last night." He pointed to a small bar inside of the lobby. "We were… laughing, and something over there but… come to think of it, I don't know." He looked as if he was starting to doubt himself, but shook those ideas off once his focus returned to the present. "The important thing is we're at an awesome resort on an awesome planet, with no one asking us to save them from certain death all the time."

"Yeah."

"No more Slippy running around with his annoying voice breaking everything just so he can fix it, no more Pep falling asleep at the controls and accidentally engaging the fire suppression, no more Krysta erh-" Falco froze mid-sentence when he reached her name.

"What? Please continue, I'd like to hear more about your thoughts…"

"I… just forget it."

"No really, what were you going to say?" Fox probed.

Falco swallowed the nervous lump in his throat, but avoided any obvious gestures that might have dug him into a deeper hole than he already was in. "It's not that I think she's annoying, well, I mean… she doesn't really do that much… and."

"Doesn't do that much? What do you mean? She does more for the team than-"

"No, I don't mean it like that, she's helpful and all and she's a good pilot but…"

"But what?" Fox was almost outraged at the near-betrayal of trust he observed.

Falco struggled to find an answer that wouldn't get him killed. "There not much here that she would like to do."

"What are you talking about? Krystal would love this place!"

"Yeah, but, she never grew up here." Falco weakly presented. "She doesn't have any memories, any attachment…"

"So what? She'd still enjoy it."

"Remember years ago when we came here and we saw what Andross did to the place? I was really devastated back then seeing the whole planet so differently. Coming back and seeing this place as how it used to be, it just kind of gives me hope. Everything looks perfect now." Falco opened his eyes to the landscape, individually seeing more than what was actually there through memory and a half-faded projection. "It's almost like it's too perfect."

"I don't see what this has to do with Krystal."

"It's only, never mind I'm just wondering why it's so awkward when you're around her. It's like you're both waiting for something to happen, I know you like her but do you… _like_ her?"

Rather than answer straightly, Fox diverted the question. "I don't see what this has to do with anything." He said, avoiding eye contact with his cohort in a subtle manner. "It doesn't really matter now. We're here, she's not." He then stared off into the distance, looking at nothing in particular; but the longer he looked, the more he felt the unnatural sensation in his stomach, the one that always told him that something was wrong. It was like an intuitive feeling that was kept inside a deeper part of him, telling him that he better get to breakfast soon.

"Falco, do you know of any place where we can eat? I haven't had anything yet."

Upon hearing this, Khaya promptly stood up from her nearby position, and as if given marching orders, approached the two, whom now had fully taken effect from the comforting alleviation. "Breakfast will be served shortly gentlemen, first though, we must head down to the docks where our ship is waiting for us."

"What, do we have to go to… Breakfast Island or something?" Falco questioned.

Khaya giggled. "No silly, breakfast will be served _on_ the ship. We have a large reef sitting off to the northwest of the island, where you'll each be able to pick any fish you can see floating around, our boats have glass bottoms, so you can watch everything that swims around the colorful reef and choose whatever you want to erh… devour."

Fox and Falco turned towards each other with their minds fixated on the same visual representation.

"Sounds good to me." Falco murmured. "As long as the food's good."

"Partasti's plates have won numerous awards from the Zoness Institute for Finer Palates before the war."

Falco gave a skeptical look. "Isn't that the institute which was shut down recently because of its covert money laundering connections with Venom?"

"Really? I can't confirm that fact, but it certainly is startling and unfortunate news if true." Khaya stumbled in her partly held back speech. "Well, I guess the important thing is that the true quality doesn't change no matter who judges it." She struggled somewhat to come up with a subtle diversion, in her voice and in her tone, Fox could almost sense that she had already known about the connections with Venom and was now attempting to minimize its impact.

"Well, it's not like we're having Venomian-made rations right? I mean, who thinks mashed beets and undercooked rice sounds appetizing?" Falco joked, grinning.

~X~X~X~X~X~

The journey down to the beach was strangely comfortable despite them having to make their way on foot. It was expectedly quite warm on the island, but the shade provided by the swinging palms looming over the main path hindered the heat to the point where Fox didn't need to pant. The further down they walked, the more Fox noticed the strange looks so many onlookers passed to him. Everyone seemed to break off of their conversation and focus when he came near, and even though only for a brief second, they'd look into him with those aberrant eyes and then turn away.

'_Something's strange, I don't know what but I can feel it.'_

Eventually they cleared an older looking structure which created an arch over a strip which separated the sands of the beach from the transitioning dirt and grass closer to the core of the island. The sand itself at the end of the beach was that of a pale, pinkish color which was an unexpected sight for Fox but not for Falco, as he had seen dozens of beaches just like this one.

"What's with the beach?" The orange vulpine questioned. "Why is it pink?"

"Its hue is the result of pulverized skeletons of invertebrates that used to live off the reef, the same reef we're going to in that boat right over there." Khaya pointed to a steel gray colored boat which was tied to the side of a wooden dock nearby. "The reef has made great recovery in the recent years, every week; we see new species return to become part of a thriving underwater community."

"Great, so when do we get to… partake in this community?" Falco asked, rubbing some of his feathers together excitedly.

"Just as soon as we step onto the boat." Khaya replied, leading the two hungry pilots to their imminent feeding vessel.

The long wooden walkway reminded Fox of those he found on Sauria, they were somewhat crudely designed, with little care about symmetry as long as they were able to support a good amount of weight. It wasn't that big of a deal, but it seemed strange for such a high class place to have and old, creaky pier.

"Ugh, I can't wait for them to replace this old thing." Khaya muttered to herself. "Okay, if you'll step in right here." She gestured for the two to enter the boat.

Upon seeing the interior for the first time, Fox was somewhat impressed at its design. On the floor of the boat was a large transparent rectangle on the center, and an arrangement of seats and tables surrounding it and hanging on the edge of the craft. Though the sun was shining brightly, the boat was covered by a roof held up by four metal rods at each corner. It seated about twenty, and with the arrival of Fox and Falco, it was now full.

Just as the aeronauts had taken their seats, the captain of the ship jolted his crazy looking eyes towards their position. "Khaya! Khaya!" The chameleon said, running towards the husky. "Khaya!"

"What?"

"Khaya, I don't think we should go to the northeast end today, we just shouldn't." He said, sounding horribly afraid. By the way he spoke to the guide, he most likely had a personal relationship with her as well and not simply a business one.

"Why not?"

"It's just… I don't want the guests to be afraid."

"They won't be afraid of a little ocean life, do you even know who they are?" It was strange how Khaya's reference to the 'guests' seemed to be only directed at Fox and Falco, even though there were many others on the boat.

"It's not only that my dear Khaya, but the seas themselves have spoken to me, they've warned me about his presence. And look…" The captain pulled his sleeves up, revealing two arms of different colors, one a dark purple and the other a light red. "…It must mean something…"

"It must mean that it's allergy season…" Khaya assured, pushing the chameleon's arms down.

"No, it's different, it's him, my mortal enemy, I know it, and my body's trying to warn me…"

"Don't worry about it Greg, you've had this feeling before, and you turned out fine."

"That was him, I'm sure; he was just playing with me…"

" Greg…" Khaya turned to the ship's control system. "If you don't steer this ship, I will…" She turned back to him, sneering. "And you _don't _want me to steer this ship."

Reluctantly, the captain complied, and returned to his former position as the ship's navigator. Picking up the main speaker, he announced the ships departure. "Alright, crew, we'll be leaving within the next minute or so, off to the reef at the… northeastern end." His final words were affirmed with a smile from Khaya.

The ship's population sighed in relief.

"Finally." Falco commented at the announcement. "That captain's kooky in the head."

The ship guzzled a little before it started to move, it went at a somewhat slow pace, but it allowed everyone on the boat to see the amazing underwater sights which were visible because of the clear bottom. There were beautiful streams of tall coral structures, illuminated by the shimmering flow of refracted light from above which moved across the bright surfaces like phosphorescent shadows sliding along clouded mountains. Swimming along the structures were equally magnificent fish that were diverse in matters of size, shape, color, and proportion.

Khaya stepped up to a small screen at the head of the ship. After she pressed a few commands, the large glass screen cast down rays of light on each individual species of fish and up rose information about every one them. Fox saw his own screen light up in front of him, which displayed in a more compact manner, the location of each type of fish as well as the physical description and general rarity. Peering into the wide opening he saw one which was long and blue, with eyes that seemed to move towards him specifically. Fox chose this fish from the touch screen, which promptly displayed vital information.

_Name: Kani_

_Rarity: Common_

_Taste Factor: Excellent_

Fox selected this one and then peeked into Falco's screen to see what he selected.

"What is… that thing?" Fox pointed to the thin, oddly shaped fish on Falco's selection screen.

"It's called a Stryela fish, it's shaped like an arrow and its eyes taste like gummy candy."

"Eww…"

"That was exactly my reaction the first time Katt told me about 'em…" Falco looked away, sad.

"You miss her?" Fox didn't want to go into anything personal, he just wanted to know.

"Not really, she's fine. I bet she'd like to be here with us though, I mean, she did help liberate it… just thinking of the past…"

Fox nearly made a tangent to Krystal, but the point wouldn't stand. "Yeah, I remember…"

Fox watched as the selected fish were sucked up by an attraction beam, and then transported to the bow of the ship where the master chef had his entire set-up ready to go. It only took a few minutes for him to prepare the fresh fish, and when they eventually reached the plate, they looked even better than before.

"All fish are served with a side of Puk-Puk eggs, imported from Sauria." Khaya broadcasted.

Fox's food arrived in front of him. Falco's followed soon after. The entire thing was delicious; it brought Fox's mind back to the time when he had to eat these tough things on Sauria for survival, back then they were raw and he sometimes had to eat them if he wanted to replenish his strength, but now in a different, calm setting they tasted much different especially since they were now properly prepared.

But the fish was perhaps some of the best stuff he'd ever had… well there was that inside-out pizza burger thing Falco's favorite restaurant had recently discontinued, but this was definitely one of the finer things. The texture was soft, but not mushy, and it was also sweet and yet not overpowering. It was a smooth indulgence, wrapped in a hastily constructed attempt at perfection, and he simply loved it.

Fox felt a strange vibration on his seat. He gazed below through the transparent floor to see similar effects afflict the water. This was followed by a low rumble.

"It's him I say! He's angry that we're intruding on his sovereign territory!" The captain yelled out, Khaya put her paw on his shoulder at the exclamation. "He's angry! We better turn back now while he graciously offers us the opportunity!"

"Hush now, I won't have it. I haven't told them about the island yet." Khaya demanded. She then walked over to the ship's loudspeaker and began to illustrate the wonders of the island of Partasti, which was now positioned south of them. "If I can direct you all to the large lump on the eastern side of the island, what you see is actually the remnant of an inactive volcano, now if you were to travel a few more miles from the island, you might find yourself near a collection of underwater volcanoes. The area near these volcanoes has actually become accustomed to it, meaning that it essentially acted as a counterweight to any pollution which might have encroached in the recent years."

The shape of the island from this point essentially opened up to the outer waves with a long half crescent, nearly spanning the entire width of the shore. The beaches around this semi circle convened to the focal point in the center, which looked strange in an unnatural sense.

Falco leaned into Fox, diverting him from the educational lecture. "Hey, I learned this place actually has a theater, you know, one that shows movies… I was looking at their schedule, and it seems they'll be playing Deathgivers Ultimatum Rising later today."

"The sequel? I heard they just put the word 'rising' in the title to make it sound cooler so they could make up for the loss of their fourth director."

"We'll… yeah, but it's still probably awesome."

"I kind of was waiting for that other movie to come out… what was its name?" Fox scanned his memory for the missing title. "Oh yeah, Tales of the Thorntails…"

"Eww… a documentary? Those things are boring, plus, they're like three hours long." Falco made a repulsed gesture towards the suggestion.

"Well, if Krystal were here, I'm sure she'd want to watch it with me."

"Yeah, nothing like sitting in a dark room for three hours listening to whiney recollections of ancestors and stupid fables from the past, and blah blah blah… I mean it's a good sleep inducer but…" Falco was interrupted by another thundering sound coming from the deep. He and Fox inspected the water through the ship's glass underside; they saw every fish simultaneously swim away from that part of the reef as if it had suddenly become the center of some cataclysmic event.

They felt a shift in the waters, following immediately after was another sound similar to the magnitude and origination as the last one. Something strange was certainly going on; hopefully it wasn't the crazy captain's suspicion.

The ocean's waves coiled and snapped, the reef below them was now empty and still. All was quiet on the ship's deck. Then, a great spiral of water erupted forty feet from where the boat sat idle. Inside of the blasting tube of water was a great beast, bursting out of the waves with a black red splotched body longer than the reef boat and short fins powerful enough to drive it through the waters at speeds able to drive it above the surface, which seemed unnatural for its size. Everyone was struck with fear.

"It's him! The great terror of Partasti! The leviathan of the islands, destroyer of ships, ruiner of those whom dare to encroach open his domain!" By the end of the captain's words, the great monster had crashed below the surface of the water. The boat jolted in response. "He's come to finish me off! That mutated scourge of destruction!"

"Who? What!" Falco yelled out, everyone on the ship including him had stood up amidst the chaos.

"Him! Break-Fast the Invincible!" The captain shouted as Break-Fast shot out of the water once more. "He'll kill us all if we stay here!"

Fox rushed to the side of the ship where Break-Fast had selected for his next destination. The lumping movement made his position obvious. He only saw this anomaly in the water for a second however, as once it started to turn to face the boat, it disappeared without a trace.

"Where is he?" Fox scanned the water, but the monster was nowhere to be found.

The dragon-like fish rose from the water with an intense force. For a single moment, its orange sunset eyes reached the same level as Fox's, and then the beast ascended higher, barely eclipsing his head with its extensive body. The monster crashed onto the sun canopy, breaking it apart when he thrashed from side to side, throwing the metal roof into the water below and then falling into it himself.

"Falco!" Fox yelled when he saw his friend get struck by a piece of the collapsing roof.

"I'm fine!" Falco blurted, even though a quick encounter between a broken support rod and his leg had shed blood. "Just get that bastard!"

"What do we do?" Khaya said worriedly.

The captain ordered his face to produce the most sinister smile possible. "I'll tell you what we're going to do Vernuun…" Greg walked over to the small grill enclosure and pulled out a long, rectangular, black box by the handle. "We're going to send that dragon back to the abyss from which he came!"

"What are you…" Khaya's eyes widened when she saw the captain press two small buttons which opened the black box. He pulled out a large metal tube with eyesight's and a small screen. "No…"

"Yes, my dear, this torpedo launcher is exactly the tool I need to bring an end to that monstrosity, and its horrible reign of unmitigated terror!" The chameleon lifted the launcher from its foam indentation. Fox and Falco froze in utter surprise.

"Gregory!"

"I've been waiting three years for this!"The captain aimed down the sights at the beast, and waited until it banked around to charge them once more. The leviathan had finished changing direction, now it was simply a closing between it and the boat. "Smile you son of a-" With a loud blast, the launcher sent the torpedo plunging into the water, straight for Break-Fast.

A huge stream blew out of the water from the explosion, but the captain quickly realized it was not a direct hit. Instead, the torpedo had hit a small rise in the reef which was blocking the direct path between him and the monster. Break-Fast was hurt, but far from destroyed.

"He's still swimming!" The captain yelled, falling to his knees. "He's coming straight for us!"

"Everyone get down!" Khaya ordered.

Fox threw himself onto the floor, as he did; he looked through the transparent portion of the floor to see the slender figure of Break-Fast rocket through the waters below him, barely missing the boat. He had to stop it somehow, and he was pretty sure the captain didn't care to pack any reloads.

_'I can't let this… creature destroy everything… I need to find some way to…' _Fox's eyes fell upon the jagged pole which had once been connected to the ship's now displaced canopy. If he could pull it off the side, it would create a pretty decent makeshift spear. "Falco, help me with this…"

The two pilots pulled the metal bar down with all their might. Once it broke off, Fox flipped it around and readied it, prompting an unsure reaction from the rest of the boat's inhabitants.

"What are you going to do?" Khaya asked Fox, who was currently contemplating his next move.

"I'm going to take him down… what do you think?" Fox stepped to the edge of the boat and waited until Break-Fast was in sight. He was swimming around the ship very irregularly; there seemed to be little rhyme or reason to the constantly moving patterns. One second he was headed towards the island, and another he was facing them directly, there was no telling where Break-Fast would turn to next.

"He's rattled, that torpedo's knocked his senses." The captain observed. "Now! Get him while he's dazed!"

Fox had only a brief instant to decide his attack. He saw the ridge in the water rise as a sign of Break-Fast's approach. Just a little closer… it readied for its attack, preparing its long teeth for the strike. And then, it groaned with an incredible roar. At that time, it felt like Fox was transported to somewhere far away, somewhere existent only in his own mind. Where in a bright flash he saw the monster breaching from the clouds, the same roar emanating from it mouth, only this time, the beast was made of metal, and its ethereal memory was seemingly unreal to Fox.

And then the opportunity came. With a leap, Fox threw himself straight into the water, his weapon pointed straight at the massive fiend as he dove into the water after it. The spear sank into Break-Fast like sharp teeth sinking into a savory meal. He struggled to hold onto to it as a blast of blood poured from the beast, accompanied by more thrashing and a strong splash into the water.

Break-Fast was now squirming furiously, trying to shake the interloper off from its back. It tried diving, but the deep incision contracted its muscles and forced it to surface.

Fox gasped for air as the monster came to the surface to avoid a higher reaching reef. It then plunged down once more after turning towards the island. Break-Fast flipped upside-down, hoping to scrape whatever happened to pierce its tough exterior. Fox noticed that the monster was trying to crush him onto the shallow bottom; a sharp piece of rock made a quick cut into Fox's back, he pulled onto the metal spear and for the first time, made any sort of real contact with the fish. It was crusted and leathery, soft to the point where flexibility and mobility was well ranged and yet tough enough to withstand concussive forces.

Break-Fast descended too fast for its own good however, as it only jammed the spear deeper into its body when it contacted with the rocks and sand of the floor. Fox's grip started to slide off the monster, he couldn't see where he was going but if he could, he'd notice that Break-Fast was breaking straight for Partasti's pink shore, and fast.

Fox tried to hold on with all his might, but the rushing water and lack of air made it only more difficult. He released himself from Break-Fast, which was actually good move, because not a second later, the monster crashed into the upper rim of the underwater part of the beach, throwing Fox down onto the soft sand before the waves pushed him above and onto the surface. Fox was struck with a sharp pain of his own, but it wasn't too much. He glanced over to the center of the once calm beach to see Break-Fast's whole body drift onto the beach until completely exposed above the water, bleeding and disoriented.

Fox walked over to the half dead leviathan, which was unable to move in its dying, weakened state. He ripped the spear from its back, its roar was now weak and its breath was slowly drawing away. Fox advanced over to the monster's bright orange eyes, which seemed to hold the last reserves of life. He thrust the sharpened pole into the monster's brow, prompting a loud blast from its mouth, and then nothing more.

He put his foot on the vanquished foe and stood on top of the dead beast as a sign of triumph. "Let it be known to all the Lylat, that Fox McCloud, destroyer of monsters, has claimed another- bulghuha!" Fox puked his breakfast all over Break-Fast. Apparently, all that movement caused him to see his food for the second time today. "Forget it."

Fox saw the reef boat in the distance, which was returning to shore and at the rate it was going, would be there in a few short minutes.

~X~X~X~X~X~

Author's Notes: **Well, looks like something's going on and Fox is going to get to the bottom of it… I mean he got to the bottom of this thing pretty well. I don't want to keep you from writing long, detailed reviews or anything, you know?**

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	3. Fox One

Fox One

"_So you took on Break-Fast the Invincible all by yourself?" The nurse almost fainted in utter admiration at Falco's bold claim; she kept wrapping the standard bandage around his arm until she determined it was enough and cut the remainder off._

"Well… not _all _by myself… I mean, my buddy Fox did a lot of the work too." Just as soon as Falco finished, he saw the figure of the team's leader creep through the wooden door, his green eyes barely missing the level of his death-glare, a weapon which he had only reserved for a select few situations. "Hey… there he is!" Falco announced, springing upward for only a moment before hunkering back down to the chair due to the pain in his side. "Oww…"

"You shouldn't move much…" The dove softly told Falco as she hovered over him cautiously. "It'll only make your pain worse; you don't want your injury to get any worse than it already is..."

Falco nearly snapped back, but a deeply placed sense of chivalry stopped him from raising his voice. "I… I should be fine." He struggled with his center of gravity a bit to remain balanced as he eased off of the chair and into a standing position. His legs quaked once he stood, but became stable after a few seconds of adjustments. "So… Fox…"

"You should've stayed down…" Fox replied to Falco's unfinished words.

"I know… I just thought I could… forget it." Falco plopped back into his chair, disheartened.

"I didn't mean that, I was talking about back there, with that monster." Fox pointed with his thumb to the door, which led outside to an old dirt path that doubled back to the main resort. "You should've hit the floor of that boat, you would've been safe."

Falco nearly retorted with a snarky comeback, but miraculously decided not to because of the situation. "Yeah, I should've… doesn't matter now though. It's just; once that thing started coming up above the water I didn't have time to… react." Falco's memory froze to a strange and undefined point in his history. He remembered that monster from what seemed a long time ago, but from what or when he thought?

He could see the monster rising from behind him, baring its teeth and then taking him down to the water in a violent flash and a powerful pull, all while its signature roar rattled his entirety in a manner too intense for mere sound. If was as if none of it was real, yet was more real than any reality he'd ever experienced.

"Falco… Falco."

The blue bird cocked his head towards Fox, disengaging from his immobile state of cognitive separation. "Yeah?"

"Nothing, just… you seemed to space out there."

"I was thinking of Break-Fast… you know, I was also thinking about what we could do with him, I have an idea if you're willing to try it out…" Falco was picking up stray thoughts about how nice it would be to get a taste of his fallen enemy… he was only curious.

"We don't have to worry about him…" Fox put his paw on Falco's shoulder to offer comfort. "He's dead now… we're here." Even though Fox's words were an attempt to relieve the avian, they seemed to miss the point as it seemed disconnected with the true intention. A feeling crept onto both of them as they noticed that someone else had just entered the simple wooden office, their shadow casting a long darkness in the space between them.

"Actually I'm pretty sure it's a she." Khaya remarked, wiping off the remaining grains of sand from her shirt. "At least that's what my boss told me, he could be wrong of course, but either way, half of Partasti's descending onto the beach to see what the big deal is, even Truman's down there setting up his funnel cake stand, exploiting the opportunity as always…"

"Funnel cake stand?" Falco repeated in a hopeful sounding surprise. "Forget this, I'm outta here." He nearly rose to sprint out the door, but Fox held him back once he was free from the chair.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lombardi, but you won't be able to move too much for a while due to your injury… which, means that I'll have to remove skydiving from our schedule and replace it with… well, something else that doesn't require a lot of movement. Again, I'm sorry, but our medical facilities aren't exactly top notch, few of our activities ever warrant injuries of this magnitude, so we're more focused on treating small cuts and bruises, anything which is truly serious demands the use of one of our shuttles to transport the patient to a hospital on one of the nearby islands. I trust your back will be fine Mr. McCloud?" She said, turning towards Fox.

"Yeah, I'll be fine; it's just a flesh wound." Fox carefully touched the sterilized wrapping which was covering the long, shallow incision running down his back, he made a scowling expression upon pressing down, but soon suppressed it as best as he could in order not to worry anyone further.

Khaya nodded. "Good. Well, since both of you are here for the time being, I'm going to go back to the resort offices and sort some of stuff out; you know, file accident reports, that sort of thing. I shouldn't be any more than an hour."

"Khaya, wait…" Fox motioned his paw outstretched towards her. "I want to know about what happened on that boat. " He could feel his question eating him from the inside out.

"What in particular?"

"Greg… captain Greg… what was his deal?"

Khaya took a deep sigh before answering. "Gregory tends to be… eccentric at times, especially when he feels Break-Fast is swimming around. He's a really nice guy when you get to know him but…" Khaya's eyes returned to the floor. "he's still himself…"

"What was he doing with that torpedo launcher?"

"Frankly, I don't know how he got hold of that thing, but, I guess his reasonable paranoia forced him to get such defenses in case that monster ever showed up. I guess in the end, it really did save us, that and of course your brave heroism Mr. McCloud."

"What?" The nurse backed off from Falco, shocked. "You lied to me!" She slapped him in the face and stormed off into the room behind them presumably to cry.

"O…k…" Falco said amidst the awkward silence.

"What was that about?" Khaya wondered.

"I… may have twisted the story a little to make me sound more intrepid… and make it sound like I took Break-Fast out myself…"

Fox rolled his eyes. "What I'm wondering, Khaya, is how he managed to get hold of a Class III weapon, aren't those things illegal basically everywhere?"

"As I said Mr. McCloud, I have no idea how he got hold of one of those launchers, but what I can tell you is that he will be disciplined accordingly under any legal policy." She turned back to the wooden door. "Now if you'll both excuse me, I need to get back to the offices and finish extinguishing this mess with my superiors." The door closed behind her with a noticeably loud creak.

"Wow… what a strange series of events…" Falco noted. "I mean, who would've thought that we'd be attacked by a giant monster and nearly…" he stopped.

"Yeah, things seem to be getting stranger and stranger. Where do you suppose Captain Gregory got that torpedo launcher of his?"

"Beats me, I'm just surprised they actually make shoulder fire torpedo launchers, isn't that kind of impractical?"

"That's the part that bugs me. I know for a fact that the Cornerian military has never deployed something like that, all of their water based weapons are designed to be fixed to their craft… no manufacturer that I know of which has a contract with the Cornerian forces would make it, which means that not only is it a Class III weapon, but it's also unauthorized…"

"So? You're obviously allowed to own a weapon which isn't used by military." Falco commented, assuring the fact that long ago he himself would purchase unauthorized weaponry when not in the best of company. "A lot of personal handguns aren't used by the army."

"_I _would be able to buy it, but I doubt that '_Captain Gregory_' has a private military contractor certification that would allow him to purchase a shoulder fire explosive torpedo launcher. Meaning that he must have bought it illegally."

"Yeah, but… from whom? I don't see how he could smuggle something like that onto a peaceful resort like this where you're not allowed to have weapons."

"I don't know… but the fact is he did it somehow… I intend to get to the bottom of this." Fox reinforced the odd and uneasy feeling he got whenever he stopped to think about the situation.

Falco leaned back in the chair with a confident expression as he continued. "At least I'm back on Zoness… It's better than anywhere else I tell you, even central Corneria."

"That's right, you used to live here… why did you leave?"

Falco hesitated in answering. "I… left for a multitude of reasons. You remember when I told you about The Bunch?"

"No…" Fox replied. "The Bunch?"

"It must have been years ago, back when Venom was still strong… back when their pilots didn't turn their tails once the saw the first sign of Cornerian forces. You remember those days?"

Fox didn't even need to answer. What a stupid question he thought.

"Well they were kind of like the Mafias you see on Corneria, except they worked differently… they were, everywhere. Basically every political office on Zoness was in some way tied to them at one point. The families all owned the big shot resorts, and that's how they made the money to get into those positions. It wasn't until Venom made their move and the General declared martial law that they cleaned the fiends out from the government. Thing is, you can pretty much only do that on Zoness because of its geography… it's so spread out that whoever has the money owns the islands, and whoever owns the islands practically owns the planet."

"Didn't you used to be with one of the 'families'?" Fox wondered.

Falco briefly twitched in a slight moment of hesitation. "Well… for a while yeah. You get a lot of perks for being with associated with them… and you have to live a life of recklessness, danger, excitement…"

"And that's why you left Zoness?"

"Hell no, risking your tail every day to barely get the job done, it just gets boring after a while… doing the same thing all the time, hanging out with the same people, never going anywhere else, always staying in the same damn place… a guy needs to get out somewhere… do something… you know what I mean?"

"Of course… that's why you joined my team…"

"That's why this whole place gives me the chills. It doesn't feel right, it doesn't work right…" Falco stared down at his bandaged leg.

"Doesn't work right? Are you saying that now that the mafia's not in control, everything feels weird?"

"No, it just doesn't feel like Zoness…"

"What do you mean it doesn't feel like Zoness… what's wrong? The trees, the sand, the water? What?"

"I don't know!" Falco raised his voice to an uncommonly loud extremity, which was enough to intimidate even Fox. By the looks of his distraught visage, it pained him to continue to doubt himself. "I… I don't know… but something's wrong, I know it, I can feel it. You feel it too, don't you Fox?"

Fox looked around the room in a subconscious manner, making sure that no one was eavesdropping. "I know, buddy. I've felt it too. I don't even remember getting here… I don't know… the way everyone seems to stare at me, I don't know…" Something was tightening Fox from the inside, he couldn't tell what, but it impacted him on a strange, unseen level.

'_The mission…'_ he thought to himself. "The mission."

"What mission?"

"The… The mission." Fox's memory traced back to the briefing. He saw an old and retiring General Pepper sitting across from him on a darkened table, completely alone except for a sole unknown figure standing beside him in the purposed shadows. In his aging voice he uttered the heavy words in a hushed tone.

_The mission. The one given to him in person by the General himself. It was supposedly so secretive that it was unsafe to deliver via electronic message. He remembered now, the briefing, the planning, and the comforting of his team, the reassurance with his friends that everything will be all right after this next mission. He had to lie to them as he had before, tell them it was going to be another routine job, that the enemy would disengage from their targets once they saw them. Only Fox and a few others were allowed to know the true purpose and significance behind 'Big Boy', even Fox nearly forgot.  
_

~X~X~X~X~X~

Sometime later, Fox and Falco returned to the normal schedule, albeit with a few modifications because of their new injuries. Most of the day went along quite smoothly. They got to sit down under the warm rays of the sun on Partasti's southern edge. Supposedly, (according to Khaya) if you were to lay down at the perfect time at the perfect place on the perfect day with the perfect sky, you would essentially be reprogrammed, causing your will to never want leave Zoness ever again.

A slow process worked into them as the day went by, comforting them, soothing them. Eventually, Fox forgot all about 'the mission', about his team and even about his entire life outside of his beautiful vacation. Nothing was going to keep him from enjoying these peaceful moments away from the chaotic life outside of Partasti.

"You know Fox…" Falco said, lying on the beach next to Fox. "It's good to crave adventure and spit in the face of danger… but it's also nice to lie down and enjoy the freedom you helped bring about..." He reached over to take another sip of lemonade, after this, he raised his glass up. "To all those in the CDF, Army, Liberation Forces and their allies."

"And to those who never made it back." They clinked their glasses and took a long, blissful sip, each taste more bathed in a lovely moment of paradise than the last. "Is it just me, or does the Lylat look a bit different from here?"

"It's because we're closer to it than we are on Corneria… and I, suppose the atmospheric content is still kind of polluted…" Falco's expression returned to the depressed and construed one filled with a collection of bad memories from when he saw his Zoness turned into a sewage dump. "Damn it's going to take years to get better! How did he mess this up without anyone noticing! All you need is a satellite to…"

"It already looks quite clean… the ocean life seems to have recovered… and remember, Khaya said that they're still working on cleaning this place up, a ton of others used to live here too. Some cities on Corneria were devastated beyond recognition, they seemed to rebuild fine."

"But it still doesn't look the same! It doesn't feel right, it's like Andross is still here…" Falco's movements grew more intense and more emotional as he continued. "I know we killed him and then we killed him again and then… that other thing where we also sort of in a way killed him, but it's as if he's still here."

"Get a hold of yourself!" Fox shook the air with his voice. "He's dead, we don't have to worry about him anymore, end of story!"

"Then who are we fighting?!"

"We're fighting a bunch of punks who think they're proving some pseudo-philosophical point which they don't even understand under the guise of 'freedom fighters'. The only reason they're still fighting is for either vengeance and/or stupidity, and unfortunately for them, our Tactical Espionage forces and Special Assignments divisions are working every day to weaken their ever crumbling power structure, they've already lost, they just can't seem to live with it."

"What are they even fighting for? Don't they know that it's hopeless at this point?"

"They're weaker now, but we're still fighting… they never stopped, they only retreated into the shadows."

"But now they can't use the same tactics which Andross used, it's impossible… he sent his forces out all at once in order to overwhelm ours and to appear as if they were larger than they actually were. Once we took out their main force, they only had the weak ones left. It's like you said earlier, they used to engage us head on, now it seems that the cowards eject at the first sign of fire. They don't believe themselves anymore, that's why they're dwindling. They don't function as an army anymore, now they're just small collections of terror cells, hardly sizable enough to take over a shopping mall."

Fox was referring to Venom's 'burst' tactics they deployed early on. The idea was that if you throw everything you have at the enemy all at once and surprise them with high end technology, they wouldn't be able to react with the limited amount of forces they had. For the most part it worked, but tactically, they lost due to Corneria's pursuit of destroying their key structures and eliminating their main lines of communication. Once the Star Fox team was used to take out command and control centers, the enemy's plans had descended into an unorganized chaos of contradictory decisions, whereas the Cornerian forces were able to gather and push back once they'd established proper air superiority.

Falco paused a moment, recollection assorted moments of pain and sadness from the deeper holds of his memory. Thoughts of those he knew dying, and many others being swallowed up by flashes of energy. "I… let's not talk about this right now, we can talk about them later, but… I've had enough of death and violence and destruction for today, let's enjoy where we are and not dwell on such things."

"Hey Falco, I checked the theater and they're playing Deathgivers Ultimatum Rising soon." Khaya said, walking up the two with her own glass of lemonade in her paw, with a cute pink umbrella sticking out the top.

"Sweet! How long until?" Falco asked.

"Twenty minutes, meaning that if we want to get there before it starts, we should head up now…"

"Sure thing- URGHGH!" Falco grumbled as he strained his injured leg in order to get up. "I'll be fine, let's go." He turned to Fox. "You coming?"

Fox debated with himself on whether or not he should go. He'd heard bad things about that sequel, mostly conspiracy theories, such as how the leading actor used to be a Venomian soldier, and that they stole money from orphanage funds, and worst of all, that the director was a failed engineer from Macbeth who wasn't able to get a 'real job'. "O…k… but don't expect me to watch the whole thing…"

"Great, let's go!" Falco made some miraculous recovery judging by the speed at which he started to ascend up the beach.

"Should we tell him the resort's that way?

"Nah, he'll figure out on his own." Fox replied. "By the way… those umbrellas, I thought they stopped making those to save money."

"They did? Strange…" Khaya remarked, purposefully not answering the open question. The three headed up the hill a difficult climb; they headed onto the main path and to the resort.

~X~X~X~X~X~

_"Sorry General! Their explosions are too big!"_

"USE BIGGER EXPLOSIONS!"

"But sir! We've used all of ours up!"

The gritty looking General ran over to a steel crate and popped it open. "NOT ALL OF THEM PRIVATE!"

"You mean…"

"That's right, private, the FAT-FAT!" The general pulled out an impractically sized rocket launcher with a bright red warhead which was so large it was sticking out of the barrel."

"But General, it's so huge!"

Fox nudged Falco, saying, "Hey, I think I'm going to bug out…I think I'm getting pretty tired."

"You're not going to wait for the best part?"

"I think getting out of here is the best part…"

"Fine… alright see you tomorrow…"

Fox left the small theater and entered the lobby. Now that it was night, Fox could see the shimmering mist over the waters far away, lit by the dim gleaming of a distant Solar. To think, in those peaceful looking waters spawned the terror Break-Fast the Invincible, no telling what the locals of Partasti would do with the body now that it was slain.

Once he entered the elevator, he was followed by someone else, a decently built badger who Fox had seen back on the boat during the first meal of the day. He acknowledged just who Fox was, the one who had perhaps saved his life earlier. "You're the one who took down Break-Fast, right?"

"Yep, that's me…" Fox tried not to let any more go to his head. "Although that torpedo probably did most of the work."

"Yeah, I used to work with those, never saw much service…"

"What didn't? You or the launcher?"

"Both." The badger casually remarked as they reached the third floor, opening the elevator doors. "Thanks by the way for killing that monster, I hear he was one result of the early bio-weapon projects…"

"It's a she by the way…" Fox corrected as the door began to close. He sighed and then waited until he too could head to his room and fall asleep on the soft (but not too soft) beds. Finally, he entered his room, untouched since his departure.

He headed over to the bed at the side of the room and squeezed it tightly as if transferring his tension to the mattress. Next to the bed he saw a communications device; he could only figure that it was complimentary. He picked it up and began the long process of selecting the destination.

'_If you wish to send a Zoness based message, press 1. If you wish to send an interplanetary message, press 2. If you wish to send a message to an orbital base or other receiving station, pre- you have pressed three… please wait while the device communicates with the message hub…_'

Fox stood up and began to pace. Generally, these things took anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, usually depending on where you were.

'_Attempt complete… please insert your public ship identification number._' Fox put in the code for the Great Fox's public number code. The public code was used by friends and services communicating with the ship; however, they also had a private code established for contact by military combat personnel and the likes, including the General himself.

'_Please deliver your message after you hear the small beep, if you cannot hear the beep, press 2 and you'll get a lower frequency._'

"Heh, they have an old person setting…" *BEEP* "…Hey… it's me, Fox. I was wondering how you guys were doing out there. Sorry you couldn't come, but, I guess Falco insisted. Anyways, remember to tell Slip that the upper left engine might need some pressure adjustments, if we happen to get into combat I don't want that thing to start smoking or whatever in case I pass through something at high speed… it's not likely that something like that will happen, but… I just want us be safe. I want you all to follow normal procedures, I don't care if you're on Corneria partying or whatever… remember to make sure everything's ready first, and try not to spend too much money… I promise I'll divide up your individual accounts once I get back… just take it from the general pool for now, ok?"

Fox backed off slightly; he knew that sometimes he sounded like a parent telling his teenagers to not go crazy with the family car. "It's been pretty good here, there's a lot I'll tell you about when I get back, but, not for now. Sorry you couldn't come Krystal, I know you would've loved it here, I hear you all the time saying how nice it would be to have a quiet vacation on Zoness, but I'll pay you back sometime I promise… I know I've been saying that a lot recently, but I'm serious. I love you all… stay safe."

Fox ended the message, and then pressed his back onto the nearby bed. The soft blue light coming from the wall's fish tank slowly soothed him to sleep.

"Hey… it's me, Falco… I was wondering how you guys were doing out there. Sorry, but I needed to come here, you have no idea how relieving it feels to see this place like it is, oh and FOX AND I KILLED THIS GIANT MONSTER THING THAT WAS TRYING TO KILL US! He was like BOOM! Coming out of the water, and I was like, NUH UH! And it tore the top of the ship up, and hurt my leg and it still hurts ow, and then Fox grabbed this piece of shrapnel and jumped onto it and it crashed to shore and it was so AMAZING! So yeah, sucks for you guys am I right?!"

"Oh, and then I watched Deathgivers Ultimatum Rising, it was filled with explosions, and things blowing up, and… yeah… definitely better than the first, all they did in that one was talk for the first half and then-"

~X~X~X~X~X~

Author's Notes: **O0o0oOo0oOh, something strange is going on isn't it? Wonder what's going to happen tomorrow…**


	4. Lost

~  
Lost

Fox rolled over for the first conscious time on his bed. A quick glance at the nearby clock told him that the time was now 8:04 Zoness Common Time. If he were back at the Great Fox, Peppy would've been running through the main corridor, blasting his bright red air horn at his door in order to wake him up. But now, in the peaceful silence of the hotel room, there was nothing to wake Fox up other than the calm softness of the Lylat shining brilliantly through the curtains.

He didn't want to wake up. Waking up meant standing, and that meant using his muscles. But if he was going to eat something, he wouldn't make Khaya take the food all the way to his room; although he had considered the possibility before realizing how scandalous it would sound.

'_How could I have slept so long? I couldn't have been that tired…'_

Fox recalled yesterday's events, and immediately touched his side with his right paw to affirm his recent injury. The wound which he had received while combating that monster was still clearly visible, and though he'd had worse before, it would still take a couple of weeks before it would be properly healed. The bandage was stained with a dark red splotch which stung once Fox's probing had shifted near them. It was all real, yet it felt strangely distant, not necessarily as a dream but as a distant memory which had lost its impact with time. Fox stood up from the bed, dazed, but nevertheless able to continue without any real impediment.

He walked over to the closet, where he saw his personal duffle bag propped up against the corner. He systematically removed a bundle of neatly folded clothes and headed to the bathroom to put them on. Once he felt the cold tile brush against his feet, he stopped and looked to his side, noticing his reflection for the first time in the wide mirror.

'_Man, you look terrible… what happened to you? Your fur looks like frayed ropes and since when was it such a putrid dark brown? Did you have to roll your muzzle in the sand like that? And what is that strange taste, it's disgusting! And what is that nasty smell?'_

"Oh yeah, guess I forgot to take a shower… need to scrape all this Break-Fast off…" Back on the Great Fox, he was constantly reminded again and again to remain clean (usually by Krystal) and look professional; however, being alone with Falco tended to dampen his grooming instinct nearly to the point here he forgot about it completely.

After a few minutes of carefully keeping his bandages from getting wet, Fox had finally assured himself to be ridden of that monster's essence. It had been a long time since he'd taken a shower where the main objective wasn't to use as little water as possible. On the Great Fox, if two showers were running at the same time, the whole ship would go haywire for some reason or another. Some pressure nozzle would break and they'd have to go to the nearest station and buy a replacement for twenty times the price it would cost on the ground, or the system would be reset entirely, meaning that the whole ship had to be run through a rigorous series of diagnostic tests before it would be running again at optimal efficiency.

Not having to worry about how everything altering their combat effectiveness, free from having to get up before everyone else and make sure the ship would be safe in case of emergency, it was all so liberating, yet it felt oddly unnatural.

And then a strange shiver descended onto Fox which chilled him down to the bone, one which was often excluded to tense combat situations, one which to him carried only one translation, intuitively telling him that something was wrong, that his friends were in danger and needed help. As soon as he could manage, he grabbed his clothes and threw them on, nearly putting his shirt on backwards. He rushed outside of his door (after grabbing the key) and went over to the one next to his where Falco was staying.

"Falco? Falco?" Fox knocked on the door, but received no answer. Maybe he'd already headed down. He knocked again. Still no answer. Perhaps he was just being paranoid.

Fox followed the perceived path of travel to the elevator and down to the lobby. Upon reaching the bustling hub, he saw no sign of Falco anywhere, not beside the smoothie bar, not next to the grand window overlooking Partasti's landscape, not even lying down near the massage area.

Khaya's eyes lit up from across the room upon witnessing the vulpine's arrival. "Ah, Mr. McCloud, you're awake. Good, that means we can start planning the day's events." She said, eagerly putting down her electronic pad.

"Hey, have you seen Falco down here?" Fox questioned.

Khaya paused briefly. "No, he… he hasn't come down yet, why?"

"I was just wondering… I had a strange feeling…" Fox wrestled with coming up for an explanation. "I don't like it."

Khaya hesitated in answering. "Well… maybe today it's your turn to wait for him!" She said gleefully. "Actually, I was planning to tour the center of the island later, and the trips run on very tight intervals, so… we can't wait for him too long."

"That sounds good Khaya… I just hope he'll be up before then. Hey um… where are we going to be eating today?"

"Oh yes! The dining hall's right over there," She pointed to some double doors opening to a large annex section. "Don't worry, we won't be interrupted by mutated sea monsters this time, our master chef's cooking is considered to be some of the best acclaimed in all of Zoness' class II resorts."

"Good, I'm really hungry after all that… relaxing yesterday…" Fox said, wondering what Khaya meant by class II resort. "But I don't want to be overwhelmed with all these elaborate setups; I just want something... normal. Not wild or flashy, normal." Fox clenched his stomach and walked towards the dining hall. Khaya followed four steps behind him.

"Mr. McCloud, the schedule's really up to you… I'm not necessarily required for any of these activities; I'm only here to help maximize our experience."

"Our experience?" Fox repeated.

"I mean your experience technically… I enjoy these things too… even though I do it all the time. You're not the only one who comes here to get away from life." Throughout the next moments Fox could tell that Khaya was attempting to avoid eye contact, it was as if she'd triggered something she didn't want to.

The two stepped into a large auditorium where twenty-five tables seating eight each were dotted symmetrically along the floor. The first thing that Fox noticed upon entering was that it was empty, completely empty.

"Where is everybody? This place is deader than Venom."

"They'll come, soon enough…" Khaya assured herself. "Or maybe no one else feels like eating inside today…"

The two found a couple of seats (quite easily) in the center of the auditorium, it was boring to sit around and do nothing so they occupied the minutes between ordering and waiting with an attempt to strike up conversation.

"So…" Fox began, not knowing where to go from there.

"So…"

"So, how long have you known Captain Gregory?"

Khaya sighed. She seemed to do that at the mere mention of the chameleon's name. "I've known Powalski for a few years… when I first knew him he was, more reasonable… but after he lost one of his boats to Break-Fast, it became his life obsession, and he wouldn't stop until that fish was dead… he left everything else behind…" She looked away and to the floor. "Including me…"

"Powalski you said?" Fox stopped and reminisced on the name. He couldn't narrow it down, and it was begging to fall off the tip of his tongue.

"Yes, that's his last name. What about it?"

"Oh, nothing I… I think I know someone by the name." Fox replied, his mind unable to find the end of the elusive trail of names he kept in his databank. "Nevermind…" The two waited in utter silence for their food to arrive for a few more minutes. "So… does the General come here often? Or is this where he sends guys when he doesn't know how to reward them?" Fox asked.

"Can't say for sure; however, there have been occasions were we've had to provide for security detachments, so it's not too unlikely that he's been here before. Since this is one of the few resorts which have actually had a successful recovery, many are choosing to go here instead of more traditional options." Khaya sounded as if she knew little about the general, her tone indicated that she was speaking almost the same way she would if she were giving a tour of something.

"Hmph, you'd think he'd be here half the time considering all the benefits he gets. Those high ranking officer types always seem to be on vacation when they're most needed. Although now I guess Zoness isn't as popular as it used to be for the most part." Fox's voice echoed through the practically empty room. "I've heard about a lot of soldiers who've taken vacations on Corneria, it's easier for them and they don't have to travel as far."

"What about you? Do you take vacations often?" Khaya's ears lifted as she stared down at Fox. "Or is this a rare occasion?"

"Me? Not really… I spend a lot of the time waiting…"

"Waiting for what?"

Fox looked at her with a downcast slant in his eyes. "Something, anything that comes my way. Waiting for whoever steps up and threatens those who can't fight back."

"Well… when was your last vacation?"

"My last vacation took place in the Cornerian Highlands… my team and I were just trying to relax and enjoy nature when I got a call from a friend of mine telling me that a group of paramilitary terrorists had taken over a hospital and were threatening to destroy it unless they… actually, I don't feel comfortable sharing any more with you…"

"Oh my… could you tell me how it turned out?"

Fox glanced briefly at Khaya before returning his focus to the empty center of the table. "Not as good as we hoped… but not as bad as it could have been."

Khaya looked disappointed at the answer. "Well… do crazy things always happen when you go on vacation?"

"No, I don't go on vacation much either. Always have to be ready… in case something happens… be prepared for any enemy…" Fox froze in the comprehension of his own words. He felt wrong, as if he were even now neglecting his duty. Sure, most of his job involved waiting for something to happen and then responding to it, but the mere thought of ignoring his commitment to protect and serve the Lylat wrecked his mind. But if the General was _paying_ for him, then that certainly made things different. "How long am I supposed to be here again?" He asked, not trying to sound rude.

"The rest of the week, which is four more days, why?"

"I… I don't know how to say it… I feel that something's wrong. Falco missing, everything looks empty; I've had a strange feeling ever since I came here. In fact," He stared into space. "I don't even remember when I came here. I remember being with my team… and then we got separated, and then…"

"They dropped you off here, you and Falco that first night."

"Yes but… that's not right. I should've had the rest of them come with me; I would have paid for them to come along with me… I don't know how I was so inconsiderate. I abandoned them, and now they're somewhere else, only wishing they were here."

Khaya lifted the glass of water in front of her to take a sip. "Well wherever they are, I'm sure they're happy for you." She put the glass back down on the table, and then she jolted in surprise once she saw the arrival of two elaborate dishes. "Oh look! Our food's here!"

~X~X~X~X~X~

"Team center, team center, this is Res-unit four. Still no sign of the splash zone, I'm going to try turning back and checking sector 37h again, over." The pilot waited a few seconds for a reply, which eventually came to him through a minimal pattern of interference.

"No need Res four, we've just scanned that area, there's no reason for that now."

"Eh… ok, where should I check now? I've already passed Waypoint A twelve times."

The pilot heard a deep, relenting sigh over the radio. "I don't know… I don't know. Our IR scans might not be working properly; it's what you get from buying them used. These things are designed for land, not this. I think the movement of the water's confusing it, so keep an eye out and stay sharp."

"Copy team center, continuing search." The pilot returned to his routine check of aircraft's systems, and after verifying that everything was optimal, set the auto-level system back on and lay back in his seat, however uncomfortable it was. He noticed that the point where his back would start to hurt was coming soon, as he was approaching the three hour mark of sitting tense in that position. He yawned, reaching back to stretch his muscles; while doing this, he nudged the small container housing his prized pistol and it fell to his side, much to his surprise. "Well, looks like someone forgot to secure you." He muttered upon looking at the same pistol his father used when he was a pilot. Upon examining it further, it became readily apparent that for some reason the safety had also managed to come undone.

'_I wonder how embarrassing it would be to shoot myself down_.' He thought to himself, lifting the gun up to press the safety button. '_Can't believe this is happening… it's already been such a bad day, now my own gun's trying to kill me?'_Just as the gun reached eye level, he noticed something strange in the distance, shining for less than a moment. His movement froze, and from then on, everything changed. Another bright shine reflected into his eyes, a wide grin formed across his muzzle. In the few moments of intense excitement, he let go of his gun, which fell to the floor and discharged only inches away from his feet. He yelped in surprise, but took quick care of the situation once he recognized that the danger had passed.

"Team center? I'm going to go out on a limb here and… check the area over to the northwest, over."

"Northwest? That wouldn't make too much sense Res four, it's doubtful you'll find anything there."

"Doubtful, but not impossible." The pilot held onto his resolve.

"Well… good luck, you're searching for hay in a needle stack."

"Eh… sir I think you're mixing your metaphors up."

"Well it doesn't matter. If you somehow are able to spot anything, don't hesitate to… you know."

"I know, Res four out."

The pilot sped towards the northwest; his hopes lifted that he would finally achieve the objective and put an end to the madness. The whole entire day was revolving around this; the entire mission was dependant on this one problem. Who knew how much longer it would take before they eventually gave up? He neared the area where he saw the small flash, a quick visual search around him brought up nothing, but he was intent on finding the source of the light.

'_Maybe it was just a reflection on the water… maybe I didn't see it right…' _He turned his ship around to try again. '_Come on, it has to be here!' _

His eyes were diverted once more by other flashes coming from the water, all indistinguishable from each other. About five minutes later, the seconds felt like minutes, with his eyes scanning seemingly every square inch for the missing It was now that he figured he may as well turn back and give his ship as well as his eyes a break, they both needed it.

"Team center… this is Res four. No sign of objective. Ending search… out."

"Copy Res four, be sure to use gate two when entering, one seems to have a problem with one of the magnetic locks. See you soon, out."

Today was going to be even longer now. He would land, his ship would be set through a brief maintenance run, and then he'd be off again, to scan the same waters he had been watching for hours now. Finding the objective was never going to happen, he had failed. He tried searching for team center's craft, which was supposed to now be only a few kilometers from his position; however, a bright glare kept him from being able to visibly identify objects in the sky.

_'Damn it… how's that visor work?' _The pilot slid the visor from his helmet down to cover his eyes, the main nuisance of the glare was eradicated, yet he could now see where it was most intense. His heart sank into his chest, he now saw the source of the flash easily without the additional distraction, and by the looks of it, someone was trying to signal him from below.

"Team center, team center! Target spotted! Target spotted!"

"Where!? Where is it!"

"My position, its right under me… I see it better now… it's…"

"What? What is it?"

The pilot guided his aircraft down to move closer towards the dot, which grew into an outline, which grew into an entire raft, floating in the massive ocean.

"Team center, come send a rescue craft… to my position, I've spotted a floating raft, don't know how we could've missed it all this time."

"Good job rescue four, is it just one raft you see? Or are there two?"

"Yeah, there's just one" The pilot noted flying low over the downed survivor. "And it's not a friendly."

~X~X~X~X~X~

The morning air carried with it a strong scent of moist dew and funnel cakes, mysteriously drawing Fox towards the large signs posted outside of the resort building until Khaya directed him away from them after a few attempts. Once they had cleared the distraction, they came to an open clearing where a group had already eagerly gathered for the arrival of the next trip.

The strange feeling that Fox had about Partasti had all but disappeared at this point.

"Alright McCloud, the next trip will be in… five minutes." Khaya said, glancing briefly at the nearby clock posted on the waiting area sign. "We're going to take a tour through the natural caves, and then we'll be treated to a stunning view of Partasti's famous sinkhole, The Blue Wonder, and then we'll get the chance to climb the Overlook Ridge where you can see the distant islands sitting on the horizon. It's an amazing experience, especially late in the year when Solar falls right in between the Lylat and Zoness and causes the water here to shimmer in colors so beautiful they would throw it onto advertisements. You need to come here then… even though that's usually when it's the busiest…"

"That sounds great Khaya… but I'd like to wait for Falco..." Fox said, staring intently at the entrance to the resort, hoping that his friend would step out any second. "I don't see him coming yet… might be a little longer."

"There's no problem is there?" Khaya asked. "He's not at the theater in case you're wondering, I saw him leave there last night."

"No… I mean at least I don't think so. You can never really be sure with him. One minute he's fine, the next he's screaming for help. And then you find out that he accidentally fell for an old prank that he forgot he put there a long time ago."

Khaya giggled at Fox's recreation. "That sounds funny. He's probably just sleeping in; it might be because of the beds… they're really good." Khaya remarked. "Either way, the expedition will have to leave with or without him, we wait for no one!" She said in a joking manner, smiling to diminish any inconsiderate sounding attitude. "But seriously, if he doesn't show up, we're not delaying anything, these guides need to be back here for the next group when they return."

"Well then, couldn't we go on the next group and just wait for Falco? Wouldn't that be easier? Then we both can go."

Khaya stared at him in disappointment, yet she still maintained a level of understanding at his proposition. "He'll be ok, he's an adult; he can take care of himself, can't he? It's not like he's going to get kidnapped or something. Besides, morning runs are always the best!" She leaned closer to Fox. "And I think the guy who runs the evening tours secretly has an unnaturally strong attraction to me… in a super disturbing, not cute kind of way." She whispered to him.

"Uh, huh." Fox responded. "Does this happen to be a common thing?"

"Well, sort of… I guess. I mean I know I'm generally considered attractive but-"

"No, I meant with the creepy tour captains."

"Oh…" Khaya paused. "Yes and no. It sometimes depends on the shifts they and… whether or not I'm around. I know it might seem strange to you, but I've been around long enough to know who likes me and… who sort of like me." She said, struggling to maintain a sense of civil professionalism.

After a couple of minutes, the group got organized and was led down a small trail where the tour was to begin. After about five minutes of safety instruction, the group made their way to the bottom of a curve in the dirt road, and once they reached the end there was a wide opening to a rocky cave. It wasn't unlike ones Fox had encountered while at Sauria.

"Alright… I expect everyone to stay within the lit areas, if you feel yourself lagging behind, don't be afraid to say something; you won't believe how much your voice echoes when you're in these caves." The tour guide then pointed to Khaya. "Actually, Khaya. Would you mind staying in the back just to make sure?"

"Sounds good." Khaya replied with a thumbs up.

"Alright, now this first part might be a little slippery, but it hasn't rained in a while, so we'll be fine…"

As Fox entered the cave, he squeezed to fit between the thin chokepoint which led to the first main area; his eyes were assaulted by a strong beam of light, which slowly dimmed to the point where he could see each individual glimmer of the cave's long, dazzling stalactites. "Falco's really missing out…" He said to himself.

~X~X~X~X~X~

The tour around the caves lasted for about an hour after they entered the first room. Once they were finished with the first leg, they stopped to take a break in a patch of trees just outside of the caves before moving on.

"That was sure beautiful in there, wasn't it McCloud?"

"Yeah, that was actually a lot more than I was expecting. Thanks for dragging me along here, Khaya, I would've wasted my time on the beach doing nothing. Still wish Falco was here."

"Don't worry, he's fine. He's probably wasting his time on the beach."

"Hey uh… Khaya…"

"Yes?"

"I'm going to… go over there somewhere… I need to… yeah." Fox said, waving his paws around.

"Oh, oh!" Khaya jerked when she understood what Fox was implying. "Go ahead, we'll be waiting here."

Fox walked over to an area away from the rest of the group. He turned around to make sure no one had intruded on his territory, and then turned back. Just as he was about to unzip, he saw an unnatural degree of movement coming from the nearby bushes.

"Hello?" He asked, but the movement had stopped.

"Someone there?" Fox raised his head to check the area in front of him, but he didn't find anything he was expecting. He sighed and walked back to his previous position.

While he was standing there, he heard this soft voice, calling to him from the distance.

"Hey… hey, Fox… Fox…"

Fox looked around the long column of trees, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Fox, Fox!"

"Falco?" Fox turned around to see an avian figure in scuba gear approach him, holding a large grey case. "What are you doing? Where have you been? Why are you wearing that thing?"

Falco took off the mask which ran over his beak. He shook his head to re-settle his feathers. "I know it seems strange, but, I can explain! Now listen, I need you to continue on to the rest of the tour, when you get to the end, you'll see a guy named Mitch, now whatever you do, don't call him by name, ok? And then he'll give you this package thing, a lot like the one I'm holding, after that come down to the big blue hole thingy and-"

"Woah woah woah, slow down!" Fox exclaimed grabbing Falco by the shoulders. "You look like you haven't gotten much sleep. I need you to slow down and tell me what's going on… ok? You're a bit crazy right now, I need you to calm down and explain, can you do that for me?"

"Yeah… yeah, I can." Falco assured himself. "Ok… it all started after I left the theater last night…"

~X~X~X~X~X~

Author's Notes: **I wonder what Falco was doing in scuba gear… hmmm… and what was the deal with that pilot? Heh, actually it doesn't matter, I know what's going on. Fox and Falco are going to be fine… right?**


End file.
